With reformist Pezeshkian in the lead, Iran faces severe challenge in run-off presidential vote

LONDON – Iran is heading for a run-off second presidential ballot after no candidate won 50 per cent of the votes in elections held on June 28.

In the 2021 election that brought the late president Raisi to power, Iran’s Guardian Council – whose members are all appointed clerics and whose job it is to vet every candidate to determine whether they “practically believe in the Islamic Republic and the official religion” – disqualified even the mildest of critics of the Supreme Leader, ensuring Mr Raisi’s election from the start.

Yet perhaps just as significantly, Dr Pezeshkian initially appeared to have little chance of winning the ballot: He belonged to Iran’s Azeri minority and was relatively unknown to the public.For soon after his name appeared on the ballot paper, Dr Pezeshkian started attracting a large following. Still, there is no doubt that after the first round of the presidential election, he is now the leading reformist torch-bearer and, as such, the clerics’ most troublesome opponent.

The challenge facing the Supreme Leader and his regime in the next presidential voting round on July 5 is severe.

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